JOURNEY ON THE SEMBRONG RIVER. 21 



SuDgei Selai is a large tributary stream, joining the main 

 river fourteen and a half miles above Kuala Kahang. The 

 source is in Gunong Selai, in the Tenang Hills ; the course is 

 southerly ; the river is navigable by large canoes for over tv^o 

 thirds of its length. Near the source is a Jakun village of some 

 fifty inhabitants, with a " Balin," who is under the Penghulu of 

 Batu Pahat. From this village a path leads to the Bekok river, 

 three days' journey. 



Kuala Sungei Tamok is a little beyond Kuala Selai ; it is 

 a small stream flowing from the north. Near the Kuala is a settle- 

 ment of some fifty Jakuns. 



At Pengkalan Panau, on the right bank of the Sembrong, 

 twenty miles from the Kuala Kahang, there is a Chinese trader 

 and a few Malays ; near this place also is the Jakun settlement of 

 Umbong, consisting of five huts on a large clearing. Beyond this 

 the river winds through swampy country until Londang is reach- 

 ed, forty seven miles above the Government station at Kuala 

 Sembrong ; here the Penghulu of the districts, Che Ma'Dagang, 

 lives, with a few Malays. 



fc.) The source of the Indau and Batu Pahat 

 Sembeongs. — 



A short distance beyond the village of Londang the 

 Sembrong looses its individuality entirely ; two streams, the 

 Paloh and Meletir, uniting to form the main river. 



The source of the Paloh lies about one and a half days' 

 journey to the north westward, towards the Bekok river. 



The Meletir rises in a small hill a few miles south west of 

 Pengkalan Repoh ; from this last named spot a path leads over 

 flat country to the Jakun village of Simpai, on the Batu Pahat 

 Sembrong, a distance of five and a half miles. 



At two miles from Pengkalan Repoh the Panggong', a small 

 stream rising in a swamp to the south east, bifurcates, one half 

 meandering through a swamp and eventually draining into the 

 Meletir, by a number of small channels ; the other half, called 

 by the Jakuns the Kelambu, flows briskly south westward, unit- 

 ing with the Simpai stream to form the Batu Pahat Sembrong. 



Theoretically, therefore, the two Sembrongs have a common 

 source, and the southern portion of Johore Territory is an island. 

 Practically, however, the Panggong contributes a very small pro- 



